


There Are Others

by Leroidatboi



Series: What Have They Done To You [3]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Dead People!, Dumb People!, F/M, Getting your shit kicked in, Henchmen, Kidnapping, Miniguns, Robots, Smart People!, Terrorism, almost like terminator but not!, brutal revenge murder, going loco, rekt m8, tropes that don't work as intended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-23 11:40:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9655958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leroidatboi/pseuds/Leroidatboi
Summary: This is another short story to help flesh out my current plan for my "What Have They Done To You" series.  I've put more thought into it and have decided to make an overarching story in it.   Between this one and the last two I'm working on painting a broader picture for our intrepid duo.  Here you get to meet the Doc behind the curtain, and are introduced to what I will try to flesh out into the villain of the story.Not so amazingly, this story is loosely based off of Neytrix's pictures on deviantart.  They share the title name, enjoy!http://neytirix.deviantart.com/art/What-have-they-done-to-you-Zootopia-Fanart-642986916Note: this story, all the ideas within, are mostly mine... the movie and characters, yeah... not a chance





	1. Checkup

It had been nearly six months since Nick had been taken by that insane doctor, nearly a year since he was mutilated beyond belief.  Now here he stood in one of the forensics labs in the basement of the ZPD.  Both the coroner and a doctor were looking him over for clues as to where this tech came from; who had made it, and where it came from.  Judy sat across from him on another chair to keep him company.

“Find anything yet?”

With a slight grumble, “No, officer Wilde, we still haven’t found anything”

“How about now?” he asked again, merely ten minutes later

This continued on and on for nearly another hour before the doctor they had come in from Savannah Central screamed in frustration and ran out the door crying.  The coroner sat down next to Nick with a huff and simply watched the door swing back and forth as Nick smiled and wagged his tail on the table.  Insanely bored with the current situation, Judy dropped her head into her paws and groaned.

“Niiiiiickkkk, why do you always do this” she bemoaned

“Because it’s better than sitting here silently while they poke all of my moving parts”

“But at this rate we’re **never** getting finished”

As the two sat in the basement room, a figure unknown to them waltzed into the lobby, another rabbit, Jack Savage.

\--  **Upstairs** \--

‘ _ Agent Jack Savage, whoop-de-fucking-doo’ _ thought the Chief as he looked across the table at the rabbit that had burst into his precinct flashing a ZBI badge.  “Now, Agent, what can we help you with?”

“I’ve just been brought back stateside; we’re looking for a missing government asset.  Doctor Faye Amherst, nearly three months ago she was taken from a non state-side facility specializing in military tech… we have reason to believe that whomever has taken her is in the city, I intend to find them and bring them and bring her back safely.”

“And you need our help?”

“I was briefed on a relatively recent incident including two of your officers” taking a moment to think, “I believe it was Officer Wilde and Officer Hopps… correct?”

“Yes, those are the two,” pausing as Bogo shifted the papers on his desk, “I don’t know what they may know that can help you, considering the lack of connection I see to your case”

“The augments that Officer Wilde were fitted with are nearly identical to the last set of plans that our Doctor, Miss Amherst, had been prototyping”

Looking rather unimpressed, “Why the sudden rush? Why now instead of pushing for your missing Scientist months ago?”

“Because we were able to intercept an s.o.s sent by Doctor Amherst, in her brief message she relayed the intentions of the terror cell that had taken her.  They intend to use the augments and her other scientific work to a terrifying degree before selling the tech to the highest bidder.  Something we really can’t have”

“Like before,” started Bogo “what can we do to help?”

“I’ll need access to both officers’ full time for the next two days or so, we need to locate Faye and bring her back, we really can’t take any time off with this… every moment we wait, the more danger she is in and the more we are in.”

“Then go, but if you don’t bring my officers back in the same way you got them… I will  **_make sure_ ** that you never set foot in my city ever again”

“Understood” stated the striped rabbit as he quickly stepped out of the office and towards the stairs. ‘ _To the basement I will go_ ’ he thought to himself in a singsong voice.

\--  **Basement** \--

With the loss of the Doctor, the three mammals still in the room began to clock out and get ready to leave.  Nick got his uniform back into place, and Judy collected the books she brought with herself.  The coroner had just finished packing his tools back up and made tracks, leaving the two alone in the room.

Leaning down towards his mate, Nick nuzzled into the crook of Judy’s neck and rested there. “Mmmm, thank you for staying through all of this”

Even unable to see his facial expression, Judy knew he was still feeling broken about what had befallen them. “I would never leave you” nuzzling deeper into the fur of his neck, “I’m glad that even after all that, you’re still worried about me… not you, you’re too selfless” pulling him back to face her, “I love you too much” before locking muzzles in a deep kiss.

Jack wandered through the short hallways until a somewhat portly bear lumbered past, “Sir! Sir!” called Jack

“Uhh, can I help you sir?”

“Yes, I was told that Officers Wilde and Hopps were down here.  Can you point me in the direction of the room they’re in?”

“Yeah, need to see some ID first though buddy”

Sighing, “Yes, here you go” as Jack flashed his ZBI badge

“Alright, agent, down this hall and in the third room on the left” quickly stated the bear before he continued to lumber towards the stairs.

As Jack walked down the hall, he couldn’t help but think to himself, ‘ _ I wonder why they waited until I was already downstairs before someone asked me for identification… s’pretty lax on the security’ _ .  But his train of thought was derailed from furthering its journey when he came to the indicated door and heard the sound of clinking metal.  Sounding more suspicious than it normally would, Jack decided to pull his pistol, ‘ _ If nobody asked for my badge aside from the Chief… and the only one was an ununiformed bear in the basement… SHIT!’ _ before he swung the door wide only to see a pair of mammals kissing on the bed.

Holstering his sidearm, he walked into the room without further thought.  “Officers Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps?” pausing, seeing that they were definitely too engrossed in themselves to hear what he had to say “uh, Ehem? Can you hear me?”

Jack was about to start yelling again, when he watched the twinned muzzles part and the faces of both officers bolt to him.  The lightning amethyst of the young doe’s eyes matched well with the sharp emerald of the other.

The fox was the first to speak, “Yes, that would be us… and you are?”

Quick to introduce, Jack stepped forward and displayed his ID, “Agent Jack Savage, ZBI Central Intelligence.  I’ve got clearance to commandeer the two of you for a couple days to hunt down a missing asset.”

“Oh, really?” asked Nick sarcastically, “Buffalo Butt’s letting you take us on a ride-along with no strings… ppfffff, don’t believe it”

“No doubt Wilde, I have the clearance and the okay from higher-ups.  The two of you are under my jurisdiction for the time being, and we need to get started immediately”

Turning to fully face the other rabbit that entered the room, “Well Agent Savage, what do you need us to do?”

“First things first, I need to inspect some of your augments, is it okay if I call you Nick instead? Officer Wilde feels a bit too formal for me.”

“Sure thing Stripes”

Jack quickly stepped over to the fox on the table and grasped a magnifying glass from a nearby table.  Taking a small light from his pocket, he started to inspect the claws for machined in codes and serial numbers.  Coming up empty, he moved to Nick’s lower foot-paws and from there to his ears.  

“What’cha looking for?”

Letting out a held breath, “I am looking for a set of numbers that our asset may have machined into these after making them… something to let us know if she’s still alive”

Running her own paws through Nick’s fur, “Jack, if you don’t mind?”

“No problem, it’ll clear things up if we all use first names”

Continuing, “Alright, so who is it that you’re looking for?”

Taking a moment to reply, “We, will be searching for Doctor Faye Amherst.  A top mechanical engineer and a pioneer of the cybernetics development in the medical and military sectors.”

“Holy shit” whispered Nick

“What is it Nick?” asked Jack

“I almost can’t believe it, fucking Snowflake actually did it… all those years in high school when she said that she was going into that field, damn, never actually thought it would happen”

The moment Judy heard what he was saying, she started to laugh, “You really do know everybody… fucking unbelievable, how the fuck do you do that?”

  
Giving his best hustler smile, “Practice, time, and patience.”


	2. Faye'd to black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our intrepid trio discover a way to save our damsel in distress, who as it turns out, is no longer in as much distress as we previously thought. Fortunately for plot development, the important bad guys always get away just in time.

Tapping her paws deftly inside the warehouse’s electric rig; Doctor Faye Amherst, a snow leopard, was plugging Morse code through the high tension telephone lines.  Hoping that her message would be sent and bounced until someone in the agency could receive it.  Faye had been captured about three months ago, having been tagged and bagged by a set of mammals dressed in black.  The base she had been doing her research at had been tucked away in the mountainous geography of Sierra Leone, but it’s hidden nature had wound up doing them no good.  The assaulting squad of mammals breached and killed almost everyone in the compound aside from her in only ten or so minutes; there was no time to send an S.O.S, there was no time to save her work, and there was no time to try and escape.

Taking a break away from her incessant tapping, she rubbed her paw along her neck; coming to a stop as she felt the light bump from the tracker embedded there.  Those fuckers had actually followed through with the ‘bag and tag’ ideal; shooting her with multiple tranq darts and stuffing her entirely into a burlap sack before hog-tying her to a table and injecting the tracker into her neck.

Fortunately, they arrived at their destination quickly, giving her full range of motion in the warehouse they’ve been keeping her in.  But this in itself gave her hope, ‘ _ it doesn’t matter what country we’re in… the ZBI has offices everywhere, they’re sure to get my message’ _ .  Soon after that, she found herself hunched over by the set of breaker boxes and circuit channels furiously searching for the right set of wires.  Only able to send her message a grand total of fifty-nine times before they found her.

Back to the present, she sighed as a pair of heavily muscled deer entered into the room she had been using.  Grabbing her by the collar of her shirt, they led her back to the workstation set up on the main factory floor of the building.  There they had collected what she needed to continue her work and manufactured that they could not purchase or steal.  She had been forced to replicate the bionic replacement limbs and body materials that she was researching into back in her original lab.

The two deer threw her down to the floor before stepping back, directly in front of her stood a lone figure.  A heavily muscled bear, one with a scar running along his left eye.  “My friends seem to think that you’ve been up to no good recently… is that so?”

Turning to face him, she spat before speaking, “You pieces of shit can go fuck yourselves… fucking lucky you even got me to make that first set of paws and ears, not to fucking mention that jaw”

“But you still won’t teach us how to use your ‘nano-paste’... no worries, in due time you will make what we ask”

Even though they had taken enough of the nanomachines to begin self replication of their systems.  They had yet to figure out how to use them, before they could start to push around and pick apart the biomed devices, she told them that if they were to activate them using the incorrect parameters terrible things would happen.  Including but not limited to; severe lacerations, dismemberment, death, and unwanted augmentation and systemization of natural body functions.  With that, they had consequently stopped prodding directly into her work, rather they had decided to leave the touching of it wholly to her and used rather unsavory means to coerce her into making it work.

\--  **Four Days Later** \--

Faye had spent the past four days delaying, trying her best to make applicable progress that would keep her in the good graces of her captors without really making any progress towards the final design of the machines.  While they were originally intended for use only in a medical field to act as portable use surgeons to save lives, they eventually morphed into multi-use manufacturing nanites as well.  They could be easily used to replace a mangled or broken limb with a mechanical prosthetic, while this was an incredible leap in medical tech, it was also incredibly dangerous.  This was mainly due to the need for material, as of course, you couldn't’ just replace a missing leg with hopes and dreams.   Every time they get activated they need to be programmed for the exact specific task or they could stray from the intended parameters, usually this isn’t or at least couldn’t be much of an issue.  But in this circumstance, they could be used to ‘disassemble’ a whole crowd of mammals.  Effectively turning this from a medical R&D department idea into a weapon of mass destruction.

Deep in thought, hunched over her computer, she put in the last few lines of code that would be needed for simple activation of the nanites.  ‘ _ Hopefully this will satiate their need from me for now _ ’ she hoped, if not, it could get ugly and fast.  The last time she failed to meet their expectations, one she met with complete refusal to do what they asked; she woke up four days later with several cracked ribs, a bad concussion and a couple dislocated tail bones.  After that, she decided that it was in her best interests to do what they asked, if only the very smallest amount of it.  Never did she intend to finish the project, instead intending to put in a backdoor code allowing her to activate the self destruct as needed.

Faye had  _ just _ finished putting those lines in when that infernal bear and a couple of his henchmen reentered into the warehouse proper.  “There you are Miss Amherst; I take it you’ve  **_finally_ ** made some progress on our little endeavor?” as he cracked some of his knuckles “if not… we’ve got some rather tasteful things to discuss about your work ethic”

Staying seated, she crouched further into her chair, trying to become smaller than she truly was; anything to get out of his rage-filled gaze.  “N-no, I’ve finished it… here you go, just press this button and set the parameters.”  While most of this was true, none of the plans nor the planning functions had been implemented yet, these were still incredibly raw products and could do no more than look futuristic and interesting. Or so she thought.

\--  **ZPD Precinct One** \--

Nick lightly snored in one of the comfy swivel chairs that decorated the office that had been provided for himself, his partner, and the striped rabbit from the ZBI.  Judy was more focused on the project at hand, studying through paperwork and pictures trying to identify the source point of the new cases and materials that had been appearing in a seemingly random pattern.  Only a couple days ago they had intercepted a shipment of military grade alloys and armoring as well as a couple nearly finished replicas of similar clawed paws which matched the ones that Nick was adorned with.  True to expectation, they all had a similar manufacture number machined into one of the pieces hidden inside.

Jack was quietly entering into the room with several fresh cups of coffee for the himself and the two officers.  Whispering to Judy, “Have you come up with any of the missing pieces?”

Judy was quick to reply, “You picked up that transmission from Amherst, but it didn’t include her positioning? I don’t buy that, there’s no way she wouldn’t have found a way to put it in… she  **_is_ ** trying to get saved right?”

“Yes, she is trying… but, hmm, I’m not sure” placing the cups down and getting into his own chair before falling deep into thought.

\--  **Nick** \--

Nick had been thinking to himself about the rather odd use of the phone lines to send the distress call.  They had been sent over the high tension ones, meaning that it had to have come from either one of the stations itself or had been from an area with close access to the lines themselves.  It came to him in an absolute epiphany, eyes opening with a flash, “SHIT… I know what we need to look for!” he yelled before swiveling towards his computer again.

“Nick, what’chu got?” quickly questioned Judy

“Yeah, spill those beans, anything you might have just come up with might be the key to our success here”

Quickly tapping away at his keyboard despite the size of his claws, Nick turned to address them, “If she used the high tension lines to project her message, it’s safe to say she’s got access to at least one of the local grids where the lines are intercepted.” pulling up a map of where the lines were intercepted, only one stood out from the rest, “Here, right here in Savannah Central, the tension lines come down to a repeater in the old shipping warehouse.”

“So, what’s next… can we go?”

Sighing, “No, we’re still cops… and we most definitely need probable cause to go and knock in a door or so, even for something so important…” he trailed off.

As Nick’s voice slowly dissipated, Jack piped in, “Not necessarily.  I’ve got all the probable cause I’d need to investigate the building and anything within, and if anyone checks us, I’ll get a warrant sent to my phone and a paper copy sent here to the precinct.”

Judy slung her coat over her shoulder and was nearly out the door, heading for the blacked out sedan that the jackrabbit had brought with him when he first arrived.  Following suit, the two remaining mammals made tracks to catch up with their comrade, “OoOoOh, governmental!” snarked Nick as he leapt into the spacious rear seating of the car.

Jack floored the car into reverse and then into drive before bolting towards the warehouses of Savannah Central.

\--  **2 Hours Before Arrival** \--

Faye stepped back away from the bear that had been slowly approaching, murderous intent insistent in his beady eyes.  “Come on, w-we can talk about this… there’s no reason to be hasty”

Turning in thought, the bear reassessed the situation, “Y’know, you’re right.  You have served your purpose to us, we’ve got all the coding we need for your nanites and now you are of absolutely no use to us.  You continue to attempt to draw more and more attention to us in a vain effort to get saved, but I can assure you that this is the end of the line for you”

Faye, for all her training and schooling, had been outsmarted by these terrorists.  They never wanted the full coding of the nanomachines, all they needed was for her to make it so they could be activated safely.  After that, all they needed was someone that could do a small wonder with different types of code.  Something that was, has been, and will most likely continue to be incredibly cheap on the black market.  Now all she was to them was a liability, one they could no longer keep around.

The bear made a swipe for her, managing barely to duck underneath it, the next one caught her directly in the side and sent her sprawling across the floor.  Coughing, she tried to get up, each time she tried to get an arm underneath her it sent a crushing pain straight through her chest and into her lungs.  The bear reached down and grasped her entire body before lifting it off the floor and began to lumber towards the vat of smooth silver.  “So I distinctly remember you saying something could go wrong if we messed with it without proper activation, so here, show us what it does.”  Dr. Amherst tried her best to struggle out of the iron grip that the grizzly had on her, to no avail, the vat came closer and closer until she could see it underneath her.  Steeling herself for the worst, she stole one last glance at her captor, “Fuck yo-” she tried to say, but was dropped into the pool before she could finish.

“Alright! Let’s go guys, we need to be out of here in five minutes. Warehouse team will stay here to make sure that all the evidence is gone, I want not a single trace that we were even here!” before he walked out to a white packing truck and got into the back with a couple of his henchmen.  As Faye sank into the now roiling liquid, she felt almost nothing, no pain nor even the need to draw breath.  Only an incessant buzz in her skull, she assumed it must have been from the punch, and the heavy sleepy feeling that pervaded her every thought.  Slowly it conquered her psyche enough to draw her into the dark oblivion.

Having no real method for telling the time, or for that matter, how much of it had passed.  Faye floated listlessly in her own mind, thoughts and memories were so much sharper than they had been.  ‘ _ Maybe this is what dying feels like _ ’ she wondered, still not entirely sure what had happened to herself.

\--  **1 Hour Before Arrival** \--

The leader of this small group of radicalized mammals was Frederick Johansson, the bear, when he vacated the premises he left a small contingent of heavily armed mammals there to make sure that the evidence contained in the room met a swift demise before they too were to leave.

One of the wolves watched in shock as an opaque grey cloud wafted across the factory floor devouring all the metal it came across before it listlessly floated back to the vat.  “Hey, uh, Jeff… where did Fred throw that scientists body?”

The formerly indicated mammal turned towards his partner, “Uh I think he fed her to those stupid fucking machines he keeps talking about.”

“Yeah, Jeff… we-we’ve got an issue I think”

The two wolves continued to stare at the vat as the microscopic machines traveled through the room collecting materials.  Both decided that it would be best to leave while they still could, bolting past their comrades; some already beginning to burn stack after stack of notes and information.  Doug Ramses, Bellwether’s most trusted help during her short power-grab for office was the first mammal to walk in the direction that the two wolves had ran from.  “What were those fuckers so damn worried about?” as he peered over the edge of the vat, seeing nothing, he turned back around to face the rest of the mammals in the room.  The moment he turned his back however, was the moment that Faye’s body made its move, while she was still incapacitated from the internal ordeal involved in the digitization of one’s brain, her body acted on impulse wrapping a silvery arm over his shoulder and lifting him off the ground with ease.  The moment Doug noticed the movement behind h and the cold feel of the metal arm that grasped him, he looked down only to see that the paw holding him had several spots where her metal skeleton had yet to be re-covered.  Quickly she pulled the squirming ram into and then underneath the liquid that filled the silvery pool.  Her body moving on autopilot as a skeletal paw wrapped onto a horn and another on his chin before forcing his neck into a very wrong position with a decisive ‘snap’.

As Faye’s body climbed out from the pool, nearly all of the nanomachines that had filled the tub snaked out in silvery tendrils before they poured out over her steel chassis. Slowly but surely her body began to fill back out, no longer a skeletal representation, but a fully fledged mechanical copy of herself prior to being thrown in.  In these couple of moments, the inky blackness that had invaded her mind began to recede. As the final steely greys morphed into her original coloring her mind felt as though it had opened up once more.  Now in control of her body again, she began to look around worriedly looking for signs of trauma from the impact and then from being thrown into the now empty vat.  Finding nothing amiss, she quickly padded towards a tall stack crates to hide from her captors; leaving the transformation as much an unknown mystery to her as it would eventually be to everyone else.

\--  **The Arrival** \--

As the ZBI agent and his two comrades began unpacking the gear they would need; body armor and semi-automatic pistols.  Faye stood inside the building, hiding inside one of the locked bathrooms, staring at herself in the mirror.  While she had found no initial changes or damage to her body, the moment she got into the bathroom, she found that the room was impossibly bright even especially considering the broken light switch and the locked door.  Her eyes riveted to the reflection in the mirror, the eyes that stared back at her were jet black with a slit iris of shining gold. ‘ _ No!’ _ she screamed internally, the fury and fear of what was happening to her causing a fit of rage.  Moments later a pale grey paw with black spots smashed through the concrete wall of the bathroom and into the warehouse proper.

Faye started her breakdown as the three friendly mammals burst through the front door, coming face to face with several mammals watching a large bonfire rage in the room’s center. “Hands Up! You’re under arrest!” yelled Judy, but was quickly tackled to the floor and rolled behind a crate as the sound of automatic gunfire peppered the wall where she was standing moments before.

Jack had taken cover behind a matching stack of crates on the other side of the room, Nick watched as the striped rabbit leaned to the sides of his cover to pop off a couple rounds towards the assailants.  Nick followed suit, instead choosing to step out of cover completely as he took his sweet time placing each shot at chest height.

Using Nick’s side as cover, Judy herself fired off some of her tranq darts.  Having chosen to keep with the harmless method rather than a lethal one.  As they continued, the numbers of mammals firing back at them dwindled faster and faster.  The firefight having only lasted a couple minutes before they heard a large mammal hefting a rather large piece of metal.  Nick himself ducked back behind the crates as the trio heard that heavy piece start to rev up.

Jack’s eyes widened in shock and fear as he heard the telltale spitfire noise coming from the spun up machine.  Seconds later the spray of lead tore a line through the stacked crates that Jack had been hiding behind, he took a wide leap towards Nick and Judy’s stack.  Music to their ears was the stop of the noise, revving and all, but what replaced it was almost ten times worse.  The sickening sound of crunching bones filled the room, steeling herself, Judy leapt out from behind their makeshift cover to see a medium sized mammal bashing a rhinoceros with the titanic minigun that had just been used against them.

A look of pure horror flooded her visage as she watched the one mammal savagely beat in the other’s face with the heavy gun, the rhino’s thick skull being the only reason he wasn’t yet dead under the onslaught.  Jack was clutching at his left leg, a large splinter from the torn-up boxes having stuck deep into his leg, Nick was reloading his pistol, looking to her, he nodded.  

Leaning her paw on one of the crates as a rest, she leveled the tranq gun towards the Leopard and fired off her last dart.  The sound of the payload ricocheting off of steel was definitely not high on her *want to hear* list, even less so was watching the mammal turn to face them.

“Just how many of you are there!” yelled the feline

“Uh, Judy, I think it’s time to go!” yelled Nick as he grabbed her around the waist and dove out of the way just in time to feel the heavy gun graze one of his hind paws. “Jesus Christ Nick!” she panted, her adrenaline cutting out “That almost killed us!”

“Not to worry, your fox’s got you” as he gently laid her down behind another stack of crates.

“Come out! Come out wherever you are!” taunted the mammal

Looking towards Judy one last time, he turned back and walked out from behind their new cover.  “Right here! Please Identi-” he tried, but was cut off as she closed the distance between them in an instant.  Both met in a clash of sparks as their paws collided.  Faye’s fist caught in a trap full of claws as he pulled her off balance and threw her backwards, “Ma’am” he started “you need to cease and desist!” be growled between gritted teeth when they met again in a flash of sparks.  During the fight Nick never took the first swing, preferring a retaliatory approach to her fighting style.  As he fought, the old memories of his childhood began to flash through his mind again, ‘ _ she looks so familiar… weren’t we looking for a snow leopard?’ _

Thinking quick on his feet, Nick ducked a wide swing, “Faye! Snowflake! It’s me Slick Nick!” he yelled “remember me from high school, back in Happytown?”

Everything seemed to slow down as he watched another of her clenched paws rocket towards him at breakneck speed, knowing he wouldn’t have the time to dodge it now, he braced with both paws.  In the split second it took him to say those words, he could see a shift in her features, they softened; her fist suddenly swung high, effortlessly smashing off a chunk of concrete from the wall. Gasping, “N-Nicky? Is that really you?!” she questioned, the sight of his changed body nearly too much. ‘ _ I did this to you’ _ she thought, ‘ _ made those parts… made them knowing they would get used… fuck, no! NO!’ _

Forcing him into an embrace, she wept into his shoulder. “Nicky… I-I’m so sorry”

  
“Shh, Faye, it’s not your fault… it’ll all be okay” as he returned her embrace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'know, I'm thinking that I'm pretty original and hip for using a character's name in the title... but the more I look at it, the cheesier it feels. I hope you've enjoyed!
> 
> \-- leroi --


	3. Don't Talk About Fight Club

Four mammals were all that were left standing after the small group tore through the old manufacturing building.  Nick and Faye had walked back towards the crates that Judy and Jack were behind, Nick came around the corner first.  “Hey… Hey, we’re all good now, we’re all safe”

            “What happened Nick? Who was that leopard, is the Doctor we’re looking for here?” rattled Judy, lowering her tranq gun.

Right behind Nick stood the Leopard in question, standing just inches shorter than Nick. “I’m right here officer… Doctor Faye Amherst reporting for duty” she softly spoke

Finally having a good line of sight to the feline, Judy noticed the frightening Irises that her visage contained. “Your eyes” gasped Judy

In a moment of self consciousness, Faye covered her eyes with her paws, “myaww” she mewled “I know”

\-- **Precinct One, Basement** \--

It had been a long day; firefight with terrorists, nearly watching everyone get torn to shreds by a minigun toting rhino, not to mention watching one of his childhood friends bash said rhino’s skull in with his own gun.  Today had gone on way longer than it needed to and everyone was showing signs of exhaustion; both physical and emotional.

Nick turned to face his long time friend, “Do you know the extent of the damage?”

            “Unfortunately, yes, I do… everything”

Paling, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Faye’s focus shifted to her paw, studying it, she chose her words carefully. “There are is no more biological material left in or on my body”

“Uhh… that’s certainly interesting” he stated with a stupefied expression

            “Johansson, the bear, threw me into the vat of nanomachines, even as their creator, I have no idea how this worked… it shouldn’t have really.”

“Shouldn’t have what?” asked Judy, wonder filling her visage

            “My brain; memories, information and all.  Were digitized, and hardlined to this chassis into a data core.  Fortunately for me, this body is a completely- and anatomically, correct to my natural one”

Nick took pause at Faye finished her last statement, ‘ _does she mean like me… or worse’_ he thought to himself, still unsure of the gravity of her situation.  “So before, you were saying something about these” he said, hinting towards the glinting claws.

“Ah, yes,” she started before motioning towards the table and chairs at the center of the room, “please take a seat and we’ll look those over.”

Nick slumped into the chair across from Faye, leaving both Judy and Jack to sit on the pair of chairs along the wall.  “Now, Red” she started “do you mind if I check all of the prosthetic augmentations?”

With a rather resigned posture and expression, “Nah, whatever you need Frosty” he answered flippantly.

As Faye reached out to his paws, she traced along both sides of his first paw and then his second only to find that the mechanisms were only half activated.  Changing her focus to his foot-paws she found that they too had only been half activated. ‘ _Enough for use, but not for full replacement… I wonder who installed these’_ she wondered.

            “Nicky… where did you get these?” she asked, “I mean… of course I was the one to manufacture them, but who put them on you?” before quickly adding, “and when you got them”

Nick pensively listened to the sound of his claws as his paws pulled into near-fists before they slowly opened again.  “About seven or so months ago, Judy and I were caught in a shootout with one of the big-time gangs in Savannah Central, during the fire I was shot up really bad- within an inch of my life really, and Judy had been hit bad too.  Apparently we were taken to Savannah Central where we were initially treated by the hospital staff when one Jameson Hopperson stole me from the ward and proceeded to slice me up and stitch these back into me…” Nick’s resolve began to falter as he continued, “D-damn fucker made me watch the whole thing”  

Judy, even being the only one besides Jack- who was far more interested in the wall and the comfy chair than with the two having their discussion at the table, to be un-augmented.  She was still the first mammal to get to Nick.  Wrapping him in a gentle hug, she slowly squeezed until she felt resistance.  Whispering into one of his ears, “It’s okay Nick, he can’t hurt you now, Shhhh…” she quietly placated, resting her head into the nook of his neck.  Together they sat for a couple moments before Nick began to pull back, a look of genuine gratitude plastered to his face

“T-thanks Fluff,” before turning back to Faye “It’s not an easy topic to talk about”

Turning back to the work at hand, Faye continued to inspect the parts, checking to see that there was no underlying infection and that Nick’s body was adapting to the prosthetics well even without the initial aid of the nano-booster that was supposed to be administered with them.  Jotting down a couple notes onto her clipboard, she turned back to Nick. “So Red, I’m going to do you a favor and ask if it’s okay _before_ I do anything.”

“Shoot Frost” came his reply, his facade now solidly in place.

            “With any use of these augmentations, you- as a patient of course, are supposed to receive an injection of nanites to keep them in perfect shape as well as manage any damage caused to them.  Although they are incredibly useful for other things, their main focus is to manage your immune system and keep your body from rejecting the augmentations.”

“So?” he asked, a slightly concerned expression crossing his muzzle

            “With the cursory inspection I’ve just finished,” started Faye, “I’ve concluded that they aren’t fully active and nor have your nanites either been activated or injected”

“Well, do I need them… and if so, what will they do for me?” pausing, “Will they fix any of this?” motioning towards the augmentations

Grimacing, “No, they won’t, but they will fix most of the internal damage caused by them and with some finagling I’m pretty sure I can fix the mechanisms that allow your claws to recede back into your paws like normal”

This, unlike nearly everything else she mentioned along with the nanites, piqued his interest; fully.  Nick’s attention had completely fixed itself on her, “you can do that?” he asked, shocked expression now clear.

            “I’ll do my best” before she reached out for his paws.

Focusing for a second, Faye took control of a partition of her nanites, slowly they congealed off her faux fur and snaked down her paw and onto Nick’s paw.  In doing so, she began to reveal the metallic skeleton underneath the coating.  Covering it with her other paw, she continued, “Just a bit more Nicky”.  It was difficult, with no drawn plan of what the paws should have looked like, she had to do it by memory, envisioning their inner workings, she continued forward with the short procedure.

Moments later, an audible click sounded and she drew the grey tendril back up her arm where it dissolved back into her fur.  “Now Nick,” she stated in a serious voice “I want you to focus on the muscles you used for your claws before.  The only difference is that it might feel a bit heavier than normal, just pull.” Moments later Nick’s claws snapped into his paws faster than a switchblade, sheathing themselves fully, leaving barely a point on the outside of his paws.

Nearly leaping over the table, Nick embraced her in a tight hug, “T-thanks Snow… thank you so much.” He gushed, emotions getting the better of him again.

At the back of his mind, he could feel something different, something he didn’t recognize immediately.  Closing his eyes to will away what he thought was a headache, it passed, leaving him feeling much better.  Opening them for a scant moment, they revealed a pair of glowing crimson orbs before he blinked again and they slipped back to emerald.

\-- **Two Days Later, Training Day** \--

Merely ten minutes ago, Chief Bogo had sent his officers to the locker rooms to get changed for CQC training at the ZPD boxing ring.  Judy hadn’t seen Nick all day, figuring he had taken the day off to finish unwinding from the weekend’s events.  It shocked her to see him already changed and ready to box standing next to Faye as they held up a large poster board with a literal fuckton of fine print on it.  “Hello Officers” shouted Faye “Today we will be your opponents, all you have to do is knock one of us out.  That is out of the ring or unconscious, your choice.  But before we start, anyone that wishes to take part in this must sign somewhere on this slip.

Nearly ten minutes of talk between the assembled officers passed before anyone came up to sign the slip, moments later several officers had filled the line to fight Nick.  Other than Nick himself, only Judy offered to fight with Faye.

            “You sure? I’m not as fragile as I look” proudly stated Judy

“It’s okay, I’d rather not fight any mammals under the large class.  It’s not that I think you couldn’t square up, it’s just that if I ever hit you- even once. It’d be like getting hit by a brick wall… not super good for mammals smaller than the wall.”

            “Then, Faye” stated Judy as she started hopping back to Nick’s board “you’d better not lose to him” she yelled with a giggle.

Merely a scant few moments later, Nick stood in one corner of the ring and Sasha Rhinowitz in the other.  With a single whistle blow, the two began to circle one another.

“Y’know Sash, they had us fight rhinos at the academy” Nick snarked

“Yeah and?” she replied

“I knocked mine for a pretty big loop… ready for a fun ride?” he taunted back with a wide smile

            “We’ll see how snarky and cock-sure you are after I beat you to a pulp!”

Making a faux yawn, Nick lolled his head to the side. “So you say”

In that moment of weakness, Sasha charged forward and slung a heavy right hook towards Nick’s center mass, only to be stopped halfway when his own paws met hers.  “That all you got?” before he jumped up and kicked her in the chest, the extra weight from his augmentations giving him enough force to throw her back to her corner.

As she slowly started to stand, Nick danced around on his paws; each time they met the mat, a light clink sound.  Sasha focused entirely on the little red mammal in the center of her vision, ignoring the jeers and cheers from their peers as they stood outside the large ring.  Charging forward once more, ‘ _I’ll push him out!’_ she thought, hoping that her larger mass would give her enough momentum to push or throw him out of the ring.  But oh boy was she wrong, the second she connected with him her whole world began to spin, he had planted both paws on the mat and used her momentum to toss her over the line.  The spinning sensation only lasted for a second before she crashed back down into the water cooler by the edge of the room, spilling the contents all over herself and the floor.  

Looking up, her tunneled focus only let her see the streak of red at the center of the ring, cheering and shaking his paws like he won a championship fight.  The thought of it all being in good fun lost in her haze of red.  Stamping back up to the ring, “Hey Sasha, you okay?” he asked, trying to take a step back a half second too late.  She had his leg in a crushing grip, instantly he felt the same spinning sensation she had felt only moments later.

The RPF (Rhino Propelled Fox) flew like a missile straight towards the spot where she had landed.  Even with his increased weight, she was still plenty strong, and his entire body collided with the concrete wall; crushing the small breaker box next to the water cooler and showering the small puddle with sparks.

Looking over for the first time since the start of the fight, Judy watched him struggle to stand after having been tossed like a ragdoll.  “NICK!” she screamed, effectively gaining to attention of everyone; including Faye, who was currently running a diagnostic on her own systems during the first round.

‘ _Whoa’_ thought Nick ‘ _This wall is pretty fucking solid’_. Righting himself from his position on the ground, he turned to face the rest of the mammals watching him peel off the floor.  “Yeah, yeah” he yelled, paw reaching up to grasp something to hold onto as he started to get up.  Unfortunately, the only thing nearby was the crushed breaker box, which wouldn't have been an issue if he wasn’t soaking wet or standing in a puddle of water, or for that matter, had paws made of metal.  “Don’t worry, I’m oka-” he started, getting cut off completely as the titanic amount of voltage burned through his system, arcing from augmentation to augmentation.  The current traveled from his paws straight through his body, through each metal bone, and out through his paws.  Jittering for a second, then nearly ten seconds, Judy attempted to run to him but was grabbed around the waist by Faye. “NO! DON’T! HE NEEDS MY HELP!” screamed Judy

            “No, stop, if you go over there you’ll get shocked too!” placated Faye “He’ll be just fine, the reflexes from his augmentations don’t lock, he’ll let go of the box any second now”

True to her words, Nick’s grasp on the box loosened and let go.  But the damage had already been done, the current had damaged his systems and heart enough for them to react.  From his augs, a ton of blood red nanites were released into his bloodstream.  When they were designed, their intended use was for last ditch efforts by overclocking already in use augs, in Nick’s case, they instantly began to repair the damage done to his body as well as put his system into preservation mode. 

Judy watched intently as Nick’s paw once more came up to help him off the floor, this time, it punched completely through the concrete wall, his body slowly following it up.  Faye watched closer than Judy was, noting the distinct change in the colored highlights coming off his ears. ‘ _Red… red…. Red… what does red mean….’_ she thought ‘ _means, danger… caution…. Issue… FUCK, THEY TOOK ALL OF MY SERUMS! Which one did they use...’_ her train of thought completely derailing.

Everything seemed to slow down as she tried to get the attention of Sasha and Jane as they approached their downed comrade, completely oblivious to the current danger.  “JANE, SASHA! GET AWAY FROM HIM!” yelled Doctor Amherst, hoping they would understand.  Nick’s body, slowly began to look up from the floor.  The nanomachines providing his body with a readout of his injuries.  As his vision leveled with the two approaching mammals, his overclocked augs instantly pegging them as a danger.

As the nanomachines attempted to kick start Nick’s heart, his body crouched down into a defensive position with the sharp claws extended on one paw; the glowing orbs stared unblinking and unmoving at the two officers before him.  Sasha took a hesitant step closer to the familiar fox, “Nick… you okay?” before making the mistake of turning her back to him.  In that split second, he lashed out, snatching her leg and tossing her like a ragdoll.  Officer Fangmeyer immediately started to back off, paws up in a disarming fashion, hoping that the machination in front of her wouldn’t attack her too.  Faye knew better than to allow Nick to run rampant until the nanites could repair whatever damage was caused by the current, it had to be fixed now and as far as she knew, she was the only one in the room capable of standing up to the vicious attacks his body was capable of putting out.  Sprinting into the fray, she began to check his vitals on her HUD, coming up with few physical damages in lieu of complete cardiac arrest.  To stop him fast, she would either have to land a solid punch to his chest or zap him with enough current again to jumpstart his heart.  Until then, his body would be completely controlled by the nanites trying to keep him alive.

Faye was barely able to bridge the gap between herself and Nick before he sprung into action again, unsheathed scythe-like claws arcing down towards Jane’s neck.  Having basically cross-checked Jane out of the way, she took the full brunt of the strike straight onto her arm; the concrete cracking in a spider web pattern beneath her. “Gah” grunted Faye; even though the strain of holding up the force from the strike wasn’t terribly heavy or painful, it was sudden, hitting her like a truck.

Amherst took her opportunity as Nick wound back up into his original stance, sending her own fist flying back towards him.  A shower of sparks spraying between the two as it skated off Nick’s own paw, snapping onto his wrist, she tore his arm away from his body and twisted it.  Grimacing as she heard the grinding sound of metal bones being torn into the wrong direction.  Faye would have taken that moment of freedom to attempt to start the forceful cardiac restart, but was forced to duck under a pair of incredibly sharp and long claws as his reflexes did their best to protect him.  The duck however, only earned Faye a steel hind-paw to the chest, sending her careening off of him and onto her back.

\-- **Judy** \-- 

Watching the two mechanical beasts go at each other was absolutely one of the most difficult things she’d ever done to date.  Watching her partner, lost to some crazed machination, attack at all others around him with completely unfounded rage and impossible strength.  Even though it was difficult, Judy watched anyways; knowing that if Faye were to fail, it would fall to her to quell him as best as possible.

As Faye slowly stood up, Judy watched as a blood red liquid began to filter out of her partner’s body and cover the broken arm.  To her surprise, he stood stock still; if only for an instant, before a loud snap echoed through the large room.  He had snapped the dislocated arm back into place with little more than a pause in the frenzy, but in that pause, Faye was able to make her move.  Slamming into Nick with enough force to send them careening across the gym floor.  Once they stopped sliding, she reared back only to smash a fisted paw into his sternum over and over again. 

After the fourth hit, they could all hear Nick’s wheezy first breath as he started respirations again.  The red glow starting to fade, he rolled over and began to cough, Faye stood up and stepped back. “Nicky? You home?”

“Fuck bro… did Sasha win” he said, rubbing his sternum “Cuz I feel like I just tried to play football against a train

Giggling manically Judy butted in, “Oh man, you have no fucking clue what just happened”

  
Obviously missing the little back and forth between the two females, Nick took back to laying down on the ruined section of floor, “Eventually one of the two of you is going to spill those beans… I swear”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ends the second real installment of my "What Have They Done To You" series. With this out of the way, I'll finish off the last chapter or two of Predman Hell. After that? I'm not entirely sure, I probably won't be trying anything large, but perhaps one or two random one shots could be fit in. If anyone has any ideas, they would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
> 
> \-- leroi --

**Author's Note:**

> This story is an interruption between the final couple chapters of Predman Hell, I've unfortunately had this idea bouncing around now for too long and in order to continue with my current project I've had to take a minor break to write this one. Thank you for reading!
> 
> \-- leroi --


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